R. Avital Hochstein on Parashat Devarim: Eikhah: What Does God Lament?

Parashat Devarim is always read on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B’Av, the week in which we read Megillat Eikhah (the Book of Lamentations).  This creates a triple echo of a single word within our tradition: eikhah (which can mean both “alas” and “how”).  The first is the one read on Tisha B’Av, the very eikhah that opens the scroll and gives it its name: “Alas (eikhah)!  Lonely sits the city once great with people!  She that was great among nations is become like a widow; the princess among states is become a thrall” (Lamentations 1:1).  A second eikhah is found in the Haftarah for Parashat Devarim, spoken by the prophet Yeshayahu: “Alas (eikhah), she has become a whore, the faithful city that was filled with justice, where righteousness dwelt—but now murderers!” (Isaiah 1:21).  And a third eikhah is uttered by Moses in the opening verses of Parashat Devarim—an eikhah we might easily overlook if not for this convergence of timing and the echo of Megillat Eikhah: “How (eikhah) can I bear by myself your burden, your weight, and your strife?” (Deuteronomy 1:12).